Draft Prospect Watch: Stanek Throws Complete Game Gem

The sixth weekend of college baseball was in day two today, with some top pitchers getting Saturday assignments. The schedule for the top college players this weekend can be found here. Check out the draft preview posted here and the recap of the fifth week’s action here. Just a reminder, the Pirates pick #9 and #14 in this year’s June amateur draft, so for the duration of the college season, leading up to draft day, we are following the players closely that are ranked in that range. This year’s draft will be held June 6-8.

San Diego’s Kris Bryant opened his night against Gonzaga tonight with two straight fly outs. In the sixth inning, he connected on a triple, then scored on a double. It was Bryant’s first triple of the season. He finished his night with another fly out. Bryant was playing right field tonight, and while he has played more third base than any other positions, scouts say that he is more suited for right field.

North Carolina opened up their weekend today with a doubleheader against Boston College. Colin Moran went 1-for-5 in the opener, with a single and an RBI. North Carolina had Kent Emanuel on the mound, the 2010 draft pick of the Pirates. He threw eight scoreless innings in the 11-0 win, allowing three hits, no walks and he struck out seven, using exactly 100 pitches to get through his day. Emanuel has worked himself into the first round in the this draft, as of right now, with his 4-1, 1.17 record in six starts, holding batters to a .201 BAA. Moran had a better game in the night cap, as NC moved to 21-1 on the season with a 5-2 win. He went 2-for-3 in five plate appearances, with two walks and a double.

Florida’s Jonathon Crawford dug himself a hole with his performance tonight. After throwing 5.1 no-hit innings early this season, the right-hander has struggled since then, and his results seem to be getting worse. He was rated highly coming into this year, usually in the 11-20 range, but his stock has plummeted recently. Tonight against Vanderbilt, he gave up six runs in six innings, allowing 12 base hits. He didn’t walk any batters and struck out seven, but he fell to 0-4, 5.67 on the year. He was questionable to some teams, who didn’t like how rough his mechanics were, but he had excellent velocity and previously he got good results with it.

On the other end of things for pitchers, Ryne Stanek had an outstanding performance today for Arkansas. He pitched a complete game win over 6th ranked South Carolina. Stanek gave up two runs(none earned) on three hits and one walk, while striking out seven batters. It was impressive due to the fact he has been struggling all season to go deep into games. I was able to watch the first three innings, and while he had great velocity(94-96 MPH early) and a lot of movement on the few breaking balls he threw, he was up in the zone with most of his pitches, but they were being chased. He also missed badly on a few, especially one slider. He is like Crawford in that his delivery isn’t smooth, his arm does all the work and he lands on a stiff front leg. Stanek’s pitching coach was quoted during the telecast as calling his delivery, “a whip-like motion”. His delivery can be seen here from a recent outing.

Ryan Eades from LSU had decent results in his win over Auburn tonight. He went 6.2 innings, and while he gave up seven hits and two walks, while striking out four, he held the opposition to just one run. Eades is now 5-0, 1.63 in six starts and has 40 strikeouts in 38.2 innings.

Fresno State’s Aaron Judge went 2-for-5 Friday night against Air Force, hitting a double and his fourth home run of the season. Fresno State has a doubleheader scheduled for Sunday. Judge is ranked by many as a top five college bat in this year’s draft. Along with him, high on most lists, is also DJ Peterson from New Mexico and Phillip Ervin from Samford. Peterson was mentioned yesterday, as he faced top-rated pitcher Braden Shipley of Nevada, who held him to an 0-for-3 through seven innings. After Shipley left the game, Peterson picked up a single and double, driving in two runs. New Mexico was postponed today, they will play a doubleheader tomorrow. Ervin went 6-for-9 yesterday during a doubleheader sweep against Furman, with a home run and double. During today’s 16-6 win, he went 0-for-3, but walked three times, scored three runs and stole two bases.

Baseball America has a first hand report(and video) of Hunter Harvey, a right-hander out of high school in Georgia, who has been impressing scouts recently. Harvey was sitting low 90’s Friday night, but he has hit 97 MPH this season. The recap can be read here. Harvey is the son of former major league pitcher Bryan Harvey,

If Moran falls to #9, do the Pirates definitely take him? I very much doubt that he does but here’s for hoping.

Also, anybody know much about prep 3B Joe Martarano? I read a short blurb about football concerns

John Dreker

I wouldn’t say they definitely take him. I have heard that there are no sure thing college bats in this draft class. Don’t know if that thought has changed the way Bryant is playing, but I think Moran is hitting right around where people expected from him.
I’ll have more on how the draft could play out, in tonight’s recap

John was born in Kearny, NJ, hometown of the 2B for the Pirates 1909 World Championship team, Dots Miller. In fact they have some of the same relatives in common, so it was only natural for him to become a lifelong Pirates fan. Before joining Pirates Prospects in July 2010, John had written numerous articles on the history of baseball while also releasing his own book and co-authoring another on the history of the game. He writes a weekly article on Pirates history for the site, has already interviewed many of the current minor leaguers with many more on the way and follows the foreign minor league teams very closely for the site. John also provides in person game reports of the West Virginia Power and Altoona Curve.